Question

What is the role of these as food additives?
(I) Sodium benzoate
(II) Aspartame

Answer 1

Hint: As the name suggests food additives are the chemicals that are added in food products, that prevents food spoilage due to the bacterial growth. They generally improve the shelf life of them.

Complete step by step solution:
- Food additives are a kind of food preservative or chemical substance, which are added in the food products to prevent their spoilage and retain their nutritional value for a long time. These additives prevent the rancidity of the food and inhibit the microbial growth in food.
 -Different types of food additives are nutrients, preservative, flavouring agent, antioxidant, sweeteners and colorants.
(I) Sodium benzoate - Sodium benzoate is the most commonly used synthetic food preservative or additive in acidic food such as tomato ketchup, fruit juice to retard the spoilage from bacterial action. Sodium benzoate is the sodium salt of benzoic acid. It is white crystalline, order less powder mainly used in processed food.

(II) Aspartame - It is an artificial sweetening agent, which provides sweetness to the food without increasing the calories to our body. It is 100 times sweeter than cane sugar (sucrose), and used as a substitute for sugar in beverages and sweet drinks. Aspartame is chemically dipeptide methyl ester. These are thermally unstable and on heating get converted into amino acid and sugar, so it cannot be used as artificial sweeteners in baked food.

Note: Aspartame becomes unstable at cooking temperature, that's why it is limited to cold food and drink.
- Fructose is a natural sweetener, while aspartame is an artificial sweetener.